Maintaining a healthy level of muscle mass can play an important role in sustaining overall good health, with benefits such as increased basal metabolic rate, better disposal of dietary fats and maintenance of lower body fat levels, increased immune system health, and an increase in one's overall vitality and sense of well-being compared to maintaining lower than ideal levels of lean body mass. A number of pathological conditions exist that make it difficult to maintain a normal healthy level of muscle mass, including HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), andropause or hypogonadism (subnormal androgen levels), infection, trauma, burns, and spinal cord injury. Some individuals also fail to gain or to maintain normal lean body mass without definite pathophysiologic reasons. Many treatments are offered that would help an individual in need of such treatment promote the buildup of muscle tissue.
Skeletal muscle mass is increased or maintained in the body through a number of separate and distinct mechanisms. Such mechanisms play a role in the regulation of either skeletal muscle protein synthesis or breakdown, and collectively control the total amount of accrued protein present in the muscle cell. The actions of androgens are among the most visibly tied to the regulation of skeletal muscle mass, as these hormones are collectively responsible for the development and maintenance of male sexual characteristics including external virilization, sexual maturity at puberty, spermatogenesis, sexual behavior/libido and erectile functioning and the support of bone and muscle tissue growth. It is well documented in the prior art that raising the level of androgenic hormones in the body can increase skeletal muscle mass. A number of methods have similarly been developed to increase the level of androgenic hormones in the body, which ultimately can be used to offer the benefits of increased skeletal muscle mass in humans.
In searching for ways to increase androgen levels in the body, the use of androgen precursor hormones have been suggested. U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,588 to Mattem et al. relates a method of using a precursor hormone, namely androstenedione, as a means of increasing testosterone levels. Although the in-vivo conversion of endogenous androstenedione to testosterone had been documented and cited in this patent, the use of this compound as an external supplement for producing a stable and effective increase in serum testosterone had never been investigated before, and therefore represents a novel invention. The pharmacokinetics of administering such a precursor is such that hormone concentrations of active hormone (testosterone) peak within 90 minutes, and subsequently decline over a period of three to four hours. This more closely resembles the natural pulsating pattern in which the body releases testosterone, and avoids the prolonged peaks and troughs noted with use of esterified injectable hormone preparations.
Several other methods of using different androgen precursor hormones have also been disclosed, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,117 to Patrick Arnold, which relates a method of using 4-androstenediol as a means of increasing testosterone levels in humans. This in-vivo conversion of 4-androstenediol to testosterone, again, was well documented in the prior art and this patent, however the use of this compound as an effective oral medicament for raising testosterone levels was never investigated prior, and therefore represents another novel invention. U.S. Pat. No. 6,391,868 to Arnold similarly relates a method of using 5-alpha-androst-1-en-3-one for increasing levels of the anabolic/androgenic steroid 17-beta-hydroxy-5-alpha-androst-1-en-3-one in humans. Again the in-vivo bioconversion was known, however a formal investigation of its oral use to increase serum androgen levels had never been disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,262,436 to Llewellyn further discloses the method of using 5-alpha-androstanedione or 5-alpha-androstanediol to increase levels of dihydrotestosterone in humans, a hormone which also offers the benefit of regulating protein synthesis and increasing skeletal muscle mass.
The use of androgenic hormones in general, however, is often thought to entail some risk, as increasing the level of such hormones may also be relevant to the development of undesirable side effects such as gynecomastia, water retention (edema), unfavorable alterations in cholesterol levels (increased heart disease risk) and increased blood pressure to name just a few. If an individual is seeking solely to increase skeletal muscle mass, and is not in need of androgen replacement, then the methods regarding the use of androgen precursors may be less than ideal. It therefore became to focus of this inventor to find another distinct mechanism in the body that plays an important role in the regulation of protein synthesis, and can be affected externally by the similar use of a precursor compound to an active constituent in said mechanism to enhance the buildup of skeletal muscle tissue.
This invention relates a method of administering arachidonic acid for the purpose of increasing the level of the prostaglandin PGF2alpha and subsequently skeletal muscle mass. PGF2alpha is not an androgenic steroid, but an endogenous prostaglandin. It is referred to commonly as an inflammatory hormone, and is related to several biological functions including immunity, response to allergens, intestinal mobility and blood flow in various regions of the body. PGF2alpha is also closely tied to skeletal muscle protein synthesis in the body (Biochem J 1983 Sep. 15;214(3):1011-4), and represents an important new target for the external modulation of skeletal muscle mass distinct from the mechanisms involving male sex steroids. This method of using arachidonic acid for increasing PGF2alpha and skeletal muscle mass is an ideal solution for an individual in need of such treatment, because PGF2alpha is non-steroidal, and can increase protein synthesis and muscle mass without the potential undesirable side effects associated with altering sex steroid levels with androgen precursor hormones.